Author: Helena Feldstein

We had some time to go to a walking street in the downtown area. Calle (Caje) Florida is filled with great shops and restaurant. Of course, there were many tourists but also locals wandering the many blocks. So far, we haven’t purchased anything on this trip. I usually like to buy something that I can wear or use as a reminder of our trip. The sweaters and shawls in Bolivia were soft and beautiful but definitely would not fit into a carryon bag. And, wearing it would have not worked since the temps were very comfortable in this late spring weather. So, seeing a really pretty lightweight shawl was the best choice and Jim was happy to buy it for me for my birthday a few days ago. It will be perfect in Ajijic.

After lunch, we went to the El Ateneo Bookstore in Recoleta. This famous landmark is visited by zillions of tourists annually because it is in a former theater with many balconies and a ceiling that is amazing. You don’t know where to look first and there even is an English-language section, although small. In the back is a cafe where the stage was. The size and scope of the bookstore is especially grand. We visited an amazing bookstore in Porto, Portugal, very different but certainly nothing like this.

For dinner tonight, we went to a very popular pizza restaurant recommended by a friend in Ajijic who lived in Buenos Aires for many years. She said that we had to order the fugazza pizza. It is a crispy crust with tons of mozzarella and caramelized onions. No red sauce or other ingredients. We could see many others ordering this, too and we loved it. Two pieces was more than enough for the two of us. The restaurant was packed and the walls covered with all kinds of sports memorabilia. It is definitely a local favorite and we concur.

It has been a busy day, with only one more until we depart. We are stuffed and ready to get back to the apartment.

Today, we were picked up to see the city. We were joined by ten others from several countries including one couple from the US. Our guide was bi-lingual and very knowledgeable. Our first stop was at Plaza de Mayo (pronounced Majo). This is where the Pink House (like the US White House) is located and where the government conducts its business. FYI, the pink color comes from animal blood mixed into the stucco. The Plaza is very large, surrounded by impressive buildings, several statues and beautiful garden filled with flowers.

One of the statues has become the repository of memorabilia from families to commemorate those who have lost loved ones during COVID. This occurred spontaneously and now has become fenced-in for visitors to ponder their own losses during that time. There were Flamenco dancers offering to have their picture taken with you. It was all most impressive.

We next went to a church on the Plaza that looked like a government building. It is the church where Pope Frances held mass. As undistinguished as the outside was, the inside was spectacular.

From Plaza de Mayo, we went to a very popular area what has a lot of charm. San Telmo was originally a destination for mainly Italian immigrants. In some of the now colorful houses whole families would live in one room, sharing a kitchen and a bathroom with other families. Sometimes, this could be a lot of people but it worked at the time. Although some people still live there, most of the houses have become retail/restaurant spaces.

During our short time in Buenos Aires so far, we saw many, many people wearing black and white striped jerseys. They all looked like umpires. We saw them everywhere, in Recoleta, Plaza de Mayo, and San Telmo. So, we finally had to ask what gives? It turns out that two rival futbol (soccer) teams from Brazil (yes, Brazil) were vying for a championship and it seems that there is no stadium large enough to handle all the fans. They came, en masse, to Buenos Aires and strangely, each team has the same jerseys. So, how do you tell the fans/teams apart? You look on the jersey for the shield on their left side of the chest. If there is a star on the shield, that signifies one of the teams, while a star ABOVE the shield is the other team!

At the drop of a hat, whether on the steet or in a restaurant, fans of their favorite team break into a cheer or a song about their team. We got a real kick out of their enthusiasm.

A very popular drink in Argentina is mate. It is a loose organic tea in many flavors that is enjoyed in a special cup with a special straw. The straw is metal with a filter on the bottom. In many places, we saw people drinking this tea. The cups and straws can be up to $35 US but there are probably less expensive options.

It was now time to visit the Recoleta Cemetery. This is no ordinary cemetery. The mausoleums are beyond anyone’s expectations. Eva Perone is buried here, although hers is not the fanciest. You can spend hours and hours wandering around seeing the incredible buildings constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of the deceased of the very wealthy of Buenos Aires. Supposedly, there is more space to add more mausoleums but you had better have beaucoup bucks! These are just some of the unique buildings in the cemetery.

We went to a nearby restaurant for dinner. Of course, there were lots of futbol fans there, sharing their enthusiasm. We had a delicious typical Argentinian beef meal. No Flamenco show or horse show for us.
We have seen them before in other countries. Time to relax for the rest of the day.

Today, we had a quiet morning until our flight to Buenos Aires for some special days on our own, that is, no tour. We had breakfast, as long as you like media lunas (croissant shaped bread rolls), strong coffee, and maybe some ham and cheese! We bid farewell to Mendoza and headed to the airport for the short hour-and-a-half flight. We saw snow-covered peaks from the plane and were ready to begin this part of our journey in South America.

We were picked up by a driver and taken to the apartment we rented for the short visit. This VRBO pied-a-terre was well-located in Recoleta, one of the more upscale neighborhoods. The tiny studio, about 30 square meters (323 sq. ft) had a kitchenette, an adequate bathroom (except for no place to put our toiletries, other than in the bidet!), and a small balcony to enjoy the city view.

Time to relax and find someplace for a light dinner. The area is populated with at least three coffee shops on each side of every block. You can’t miss them. We also noticed that many people were walking dogs. Not unlike other large cities, people live in high-rise apartment buildings but also choose to have a pet. For those who were not inclined to walk their dog, they hired dog walkers, some of whom were sheparding as many as 20 dogs at a time! It was quite a scene.

One of the first things you notice is the beautiful architecture. Known as the “Paris of South America,” the French influence in the design of the buildings is everywhere. If you had a corner apartment in one of these buildings, I imagine that you are blessed with a wonderful view.

We were ready to relax for the evening. Tomorrow, we go on a city tour to get the lay of the land. Until then…

We were looking forward to this day in Mendoza. We started with a city tour to get a better feel for the city. We saw tile painting of the founding of Mendoza, the remains of the oldest church in the city, and a beautiful park with a man-made lake that can only be used by the members of the rowing club located on the lake.

Time to go to the wineries for our tastings. Our first stop was Maison Alta Vista, a winery that has a variety of Malbec wines grown in different terroir (earth). They indicate that there is a significant difference in the grapes grown in different areas of the Maipu Valley, creating a unique flavor. We tasted a variety of wines to determine if we could see how the earth changes the flavor. They also had a sparkling wine and several wines that were a mix of grapes. The grounds are beautiful, too.

Next, we went to the Trivento Winery. Tte grounds of this winery are absolutely beautiful. As you walk into the building, you see two large paintings of women drinking wine. I thought of a local painter friend who could create something similar easily, maybe for a local restaurant?

There are displays of their wines and in-depth discussions about the wines they offer. We tasted a couple of unique wines – a white Malbec and a rose Malbec. Nowhere else did we see these wines. The flavor was amazing. We would have liked to bring some back home but it was not possible.

Yesterday (December 6), while in Walmart, I looked at the huge wine selection available, probably set up for the upcoming holidays. And, right in the front were the Trivento wines we liked – the white and rose Malbec. And, they were on sale for $209 pesos! We now have a nice collection of these two, as they will probably disappear after the holidays!

We next went to another bodega that specializes in unique virgin olive oils and balsamic vinegars.

After the tasting, we were treated to a delicious lunch. We had amazing empanadas with a dipping sauce and a choice of two entrees. I had eggplant and hummus, while Jim had meat that was very tender and veggies. I didn’t get a picture of his meal, unfortunately, because it disappeared too quickly! As you can see I ate first and photographed after!

Time to head back to Mendoza to savor the day and the incredible wines. When we arrived, we passed by an official building that had a ceremony of uniformed soldiers dressed like those from 100 years ago. They played trumpets and drums, walked in synchrony, viewed by students on the steps of the building. Our guide saw this ceremony for the first time in her life, so it was a very special opportunity for us.

It was a full day, very enjoyable. Tomorrow, we leave Mendoza and our tour. Next, we fly to Buenos Aires on our own to explore this amazing city.

We are finally going to the epicenter of wine in Mendoza. We had a morning flight for the one and a half hour trip. You can see the snow-capped Andes as we fly south.

Once we checked in, we had the afternoon to ourselves. Our hotel was perfectly located, so it was easy to walk around. The room was quite compact. We wonder where people put their luggage to unpack because with our two carryon bags and two personal items, we were very cramped. We found this situation at most of the hotels.

Jim was here about 14 years ago and it seemed like a one-horse town then. Not now! It is charming, bustling, filled with parks and plazas. Walking around was a pleasure.

There is a long pedestrian street (Calle Sarmiento) where you can shop, eat, and definitely people-watch. We needed some Argentine pesos, so we meandered a block or two away and were approached by someone who said “cambio.” That means, do you want to exchange dollars for pesos? Normally, one would be a skeptic to do this on the street but this is the way of life for visitors. However, you have to know beforehand that they really want new $100 US bills to exchange. We were able to get them at our bank in Ajijic, since we were made aware by many before we left.

You follow a strange man and go into an inside mall selling and buying gold to an office that handles the transaction. The Argentinian peso was around $1,000 to $1.00 US. If you aren’t firm, you will get pesos in $100 or $200 denominations, which means that you need a suitcase to carry your cash. We asked, and got, pesos in at least $10,000 notes. You feel like a millionaire for only a minute, as an ice cream cone is almost $5,000 pesos and a meal about $20,000 pesos. Using the ATM doesn’t give you a good exchange (we got between $1,050-1,090 to the dollar). If you use a credit card anywhere, you get hit with a fee of about 20% or more. Cash is your friend.

We decided to have dinner on the pedestrian mall and shared a beef meal, finally. One thing they offered was chorizo, which you would think was a sausage. But no, it is a cut of beef, kind of like a New York strip. We kept that in mind for another meal.

It was a long day, so off to bed… Tomorrow, a city tour and then to the Maipu Valley for our wine tastings!

Since we were the only people on this tour, they modified the itinerary so that we could visit Cafayete, a few hours away, but promising to be an interesting drive and town. Somehow, our hotel in Salta knew that today was my birthday, so with our breakfast, they brought a little cake made of alfajores (the traditional Argentinian cookies) with a candle. It was very sweet.

We left Salta for the Lerma Valley, which includes many gorges and natural rock formations. We were a full van of 14, with visitors from many countries. We saw the La Garganta del Diablo (the Devil’s Throat) and El Anfiteatro (The Amphitheatre), both of which were spectacular in their size and color. The Amphitheatre has the most amazing acoustics that resonate within the entire inside. I am not sure if they host musical events, but there was a musician sitting on a rock inside playing a guitar and you could hear every word and note!

Before having lunch, we visited a small winery, owned by a couple of generations of a family. The son recently returned from three months in Italy to gain more knowledge. He already looked very Italian, which wasn’t a bad thing! We tasted the wines, but did not find anything we especially liked. They served empanadas, which were tasty, so the visit wasn’t entirely wasted.

We then had lunch on the main square and decided that this was the time to sample the local delicacy of llama. It wasn’t bad. It could have been any meat, though. Otherwise, there wasn’t much to see in the town. As we departed, we were taken to another winery that we hoped had some delicious wine. In actuality, this stop was unplanned because our van had a flat tire and the driver had to change the tire. In addition to making wine, they also made fine olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Time to head back to Salta. Within a half an hour, a deluge of rain hit the road we were on. Water rose to at least the middle of our tires, with streams of water (like arroyos) entering our road from the towns we passed. We were stopped twice, waiting to find out the status of traversing the high water. In one case, a small sedan was stuck with water up to their doors and a band of helpers pushed the car out of the way. The second time, a tractor-trailer was caught and another one attempted to tow it out of the water. We waited for about an hour and a half, as the rain continued.

We arrived in Salta two and a half hours late, tired and ready to depart for our flight tomorrow to Mendoza.

Salta is a beautiful colonial city. It is very spread out, with the pre-Andes and snow-capped Andes in the background. We had a guide for a tour of the city. The largest close-in mountain has a ski lift to get to the top, or you can drive up easily. From this vantage point, you can see the soccer stadiums and the important buildings of the city. From here, we went to many areas to get a feel for the city.

When we got back to town, we went to a recommended restaurant for a delicious lamb casuela (stew), a wonderful glass of wine, all in the shadow of the tallest church tower in town.

We walked around the squares and peeked into the main church, which was totally full . The inside was stunning.

One area we visited was San Lorenzo, an area just outside of town, with a very different topography and weather. This part of the city offers gated communities, beautiful, large homes where the wealthy live and commute into the city easily. The uniqueness of this area is that it sits adjacent to a rain forest, which creates a lush, green environment. There is a stream and several waterfalls where families from the city go as a break from city life. A castle was built many years ago and sat empty for a long time. Recently, it has been transformed into a beautiful hotel.

Tomorrow, we go to Cafayete, another wine area a few hours away. Along the way, we will be seeing some magical places.

Today will be another long drive to Tarija, Bolivia. The main issue is the almost four-hour drive through the Andes on a narrow, harrowing dirt road with one side against possible rock slides and the other side looking down at a valley that looks miles deep. This is the second time we have had to endure this. I wish it was the last but the likelihood is that there will be one more of these “experiences” before we leave Bolivia.

When we finally got to Tarija, again a four-hour drive on the same dirt roads, hanging on for dear life (that is, me). You would think that there would be a highway after all this time but there is not. About 2.5 hours in, we stopped at a high altitude winery at Ville Abecia. It is a small winery that doesn’t have “tours” as such. The owner is a elderly man with a cane who spoke only Spanish but wanted us to sample his wine. Admittingly, all the ones we tasted were delicious. He had a port, a torrantes (a red we never heard of before), and a tannat wine. We liked everything we tasted. Sadly, we couldn’t take any with us. The visit was short and sweet.

We finally made it to Tarija and began to breathe! Tomorrow will be better.

Today, we drive to the border to begin our next phase of the trip. This was to be another very long and frightening drive through the Andes and we were not looking forward to it. The ride is four hours long, on winding dirt roads. When you think that you are at the end, there is more – much more!

Our driver, along with all the Bolivian drivers, chew coca leaves. They are not cocaine but have a “calming” and “slightly narcotic” effect. On these roads, isn’t that comforting? They all have a cheek-full and personally, it is pretty gross.

Maybe you can get an idea of what driving through the Andes is like. And this driver takes this route a couple of times a week! Remember… FOUR HOURS LIKE THIS!

Getting across the border wasn’t difficult. Jim went to a Casa de Cambio to exchange US dollars for Argentinian pesos. You get a better rate than at an ATM or using a credit card. The exchange rate is about $1,000 pesos to the dollar. Ideally, you want the largest bill you can get because otherwise, you have a boatload of bills to carry around!

Once across, we connected with our next driver to head to Purmamarca, a village town where we will be spending the night. However, we have another 162 km of driving until we get there. Claudio, was a charming driver. He lived in NYC with his wife and worked there until 9/11, when his wife said she had to leave and return to Argentina, where it was safe. He speaks great English, has taught, and is knowledgeable on almost any subject, incuding TV shows from the 80’s and 90’s. He was very entertaining, although barely took a breath for the next 3.5 hours.

The scenery was breathtaking (and fortunately flat) so the time went much faster than we thought. In Purmamarca, you see the many colors of striation in the hills. Tomorrow, we will take a walk to get a closer view of the Valle de Colorada,

Once we got settled in our hotel, we wandered around town to find a good place to eat. It was about 6:00 PM and, as we know, folks in these parts don’t eat until 10 or later! We heard music and went to the main square just in time to see a procession for a Virgin whose name escapes me. The costumes and animated dancing were too good to miss, as we, and hundreds more were videoing it.

As you can see, The locals dress up to honor the Virgin. I am not sure about the significance of the costumes but everyone was having fun. The boots are especially interesting and look custom-made to match the outfit!

After eating at a cute local restaurant, and finding a dark beer that Jim enjoys, we crashed and were ready for the next day’s adventure.

Today, our guide and driver were taking us to some of the nearby interesting areas. We went to the falls (small ones) that are visited by locals for picnics and bucolic afternoons. Afterward, we went to San Lorenzo, where the culture, folklore and tradition of the Chapaco man was born in the early 1800’s, the homeland of Eustaquio Mendez (El Moto). He fought the Spaniards with a band of local men. He was quite the folk hero.

San Lorenzo has a new market, only opened a week before, selling traditional sweets, fish, meat, fruits/vegetables, and beautiful flowers. We tried one of the pastries. It has a sweet merengue on top. The other tradition is drinking a sweetened peanut beverage. It was rather unusual but tasty.

Our next stop was a man-made lake, San Jacinto, created to avoid flooding into the lower valleys. The dam slowly allows water to flow downstream to agricultural regions. In the rainy season, during the summer in March and April, the water can rise over 10′. There are charming launches (small oar-driven boats) to cruise around and even some kayaks enjoying the lake. The restaurants along the side of the lake provide a nice ambiance. It could almost be like our Lake Chapala.

On our way to lunch, we made a quick stop at a little family-owned cafe to taste the local delicacy of little fried fish and tiny fried crabs served on corn that is more like our posole. Jim said they were crunchy and tasty, like popcorn, but I couldn’t stomach the idea of putting any of them in my mouth, let alone chewing and swallowing them. The family also had a pond where they had live crabs (congrejo) to hold. Not for me.

We had lunch at a beautiful restaurant in Tarija. It looks like one we like in Guadalajara (Bruna). We sat outside and ordered a steak, asking for it to be medium rare. They didn’t know what we were talking about. They brought it and it was blue (seared by rare). We sent it back and asked for more done, which finally happened. The salad bar was unbelievable so we didn’t suffer too much.

Our first winery of the afternoon was Kuhlmann, started by a German family many years ago. By the way, seven German families came to this area about 100 years ago and they decided to divide the land into seven wineries. I believe all of them still exist to this day. Kuhlmann was one of these families and in addition to many varieties of wine, including a delicious sparkling wine, they make Singani. This drink is made from the wine grapes but is a spirit (liquor) that is distilled. It is usually served with ginger ale and lemon and really yummy. The winery is very modern and automated, with machines that grind the grapes, separate the solids from the liquid, and equipment to fill 3,000 bottles a day. Their sparkling wine was delicious. Did you know that in order to create sparkling wine, the bottles must be turned a quarter-turn four times a day? With over a thousand bottles, this is almost a full-time job! Our guide and driver provided some snacks to go with the various wines we tasted, as well as with Singani. They were awesome!

We next went to a small winery down the road. This family-run winery, Casa Solum, was charming, with a second and third generation continuing the business. They make an excellent Carmenere, one of my favorites. They only sell through their bodega and do not export. Their production is too small.

Finally, we went to the largest winery in Bolivia, Aranjuez. Also started by one of the German families who divided up the lane, the vineyard is immense. They showed a video of what happens during the four seasons of the year. As you can well imagine, it takes a lot of people to harvest all the grapes by hand in March and April. And again, more snacks. One kind of grape that we do not seen often is the Tannat grape. It is a specialty of this high altitude vineyard. Unfortunately, it was not our favorite. We had it at one other vineyard and it was yummy. This one, not so much.

There was a group of visitors from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, a good-sized and wealthy city. They were at the winery for a couple of days and were having a ball, smoking cigars and enjoying many glasses of wine. When our guide brought a birthday cake for me to the winery (a few days early), they all came around and sang to me. It was a a hoot!

By the way, did you know that Bolivia has two Capitals… La Paz and Sucre? The President resides and works in La Paz, and the other branches of government (legislative and judicial) live and work in Sucre. It seems like a very strange arrangement – no? I guess it isn’t that different from Palm Beach and Washington, DC?

We returned to the hotel and decided to take a swim in the beautiful indoor pool in the spa. We met a charming newlywed couple from Sao Paulo, Brazil who were on vacation. The water was warm and the conversation very animated. We were ready for a snack by the fireplace and then crash for the night.